Desk and tray structure

ABSTRACT

A desk is firmly and adjustably supported on each side by twin square legs equipped with enclosed diverging foot runners, the upper ends of the legs being forced into right angle corners of brackets fixed to the desk by a V-clamping rib and the desk being open at its front and provided along its inner sides with ledges for receiving a carry tray also open at its front and useful as a writing board or floor desk.

[451 Sept. 11, 1973 ilnited States Patent Barecki et al.

Johnson1......................

Woma

a m m mm. w w mw ebde v d m o ob HMDCB 04688977 45555566 99999999 11111111 mQ A-SHZO 4 997368 57290030 7 3 J 4 0 8 9 0 70926037 19233 04 2 v w 22222233 h n m an a nM r mf G L 0 s rww m m E "ah m R 0 w mm c g C u m .m PIG t U a G 8 R 8 T 0 8.1 S J mm nM vr.0Z m ebo .l A M 9" PM R en n. T .nv. ma D CRW AR N N A m w K m n t n g b e m E m S D 1 A l l l 4 5 3 5 7 7 l l 1 Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam Att0rneyDawson, Tilton, Fallon & Lungmus [57] ABSTRACT A desk is firmly and adjustably supported on each side by twin square legs equipped with enclosed diverging foot runners, the upper ends of the legs being forced into right angle corners of brackets fixed to the desk b a V-clamping rib and the desk being open at its front and provided along its inner sides with ledges for receiving a carry tray also open at its front and useful as a writing board or floor desk.

6 Claims, 18 Drawing Figures [22] Filed: June 3, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 149,726

[52] US. 312/194, 312/255, 51 Int. Cl. [58] Field of Search......................

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 213,814 1/1879 Emanuel...... 1,734,889 11/1929 Amsden...... 2,176,782 10/1939 Bargen............................

' PATENTED'SEPI Hm saw u are III-2.----- FIG. ll

Chester J. Bcrecki Arthur L. Van Ryn Kenneth W. Hozeski- BY @aw-aw cZZfsw, 701$") cuub 15W ATTORNEYS mam, g

Chester J. Barecki Arthur L Van Ryn Kenneth W. Hozeski, BY cZuZtw 7amv and BMW I ATTORNEYS PATENTED 3.758.182

' I SHEET s 0? 6 INVENTORS Chester J. Borecki Arihur L. Van Ryn Kenneth W. Hozeski BY @awaa m, 701%970 W W ATTORNEYS DESK AND TRAY STRUCTURE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY Providing a desk which may serve several students, while providing each student with his own carry equipment enabling him to carry on his study and exercises apart from the desk, has become an increasing need. Further, there has for many years been a problem of supporting rigidly and adjustably a desk mounted upon side legs carried by floor runners.

We have discovered that it is possible to provide a desk and tray structure satisfying the above needs, the desk being bottomless but equipped with slide flanges for receiving a carry tray, the desk and tray being open at their fronts and the tray being useful as a support, or writing or study board, and the desk being carried by square legs clamped securely against bracket members fixed to the desk, with the desk at a selected height.

DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a desk embodying our invention; FIG. 2, a rear perspective view of the desk; FIG. 3, a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but with a wire tray mounted on the support runners; FIG. 4, a perspective view of the wire rack with releasable means for locking the rack in place on the support'runners; FIG. 5, a fragmentary sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line 55 of FIG. 3 and showing means carried by the rack for releasably anchoring the rack upon the support runners; FIG. 6, a perspective view of the desk,

similar to FIG. 1, but with the carry tray resting on the support runners and visible through the open front of the desk; FIG. 7, a broken front view of the carry tray inside the desk unit, showing how the lipped track'on the bottom of the tray aids in guiding the tray along the support runners; FIG. 8, a perspective view of the carry tray showing the reinforcing ribs on the inside of the tray; FIG. 9, a perspective view of the underside of the tray with its smooth writing surface FIG. 10, a sectional view showing the z-structure providing pencil receptacles on both sides of the tray, the section being taken at line 10-10 of FIG. 11; FIG. 11, a sectional view, the

section being taken as indicated at line 1lll of FIG. 10; FIG. 12, a broken perspective view of a foot support for the desk, showing the scuffcover and thecombination end caps and glides; FIG. 13, an exploded view of the structure shown in FIG. 12; FIG. 14, a broken sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line l4'l4 of FIG. 15, showing how the cap portion holds the scuff cover in place on the square tube of the foot; FIG. 15, a broken sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line l5l5 of FIG. 14, showing how the scuff cover is held snugly against the square tube of the foot; FIG. 16, an exploded perspective view of the bracket and leg attachment members for connecting the legs to the desk; FIG. 17, a perspective view of the clamp with the two prongs on the lower side thereof to give an extra height adjustment; and FIG. 18, a top view of the assembled parts shown in FIG. 16 to show how the V-rib of the clamp forces the tubes diagonally into the right angle corners of the housing bracket to insure great rigidity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In general, we provide a desk open at its bottom and front, with the sides of the desk having inwardly-turned flanges or ledges on which trays can be mounted. The desk may be provided with trays which form a removable bottom for the desk cavity so tht the contents which the student places within the desk may be removed by him when he no longer needs to use the desk and the desk is to be occupied by another student. A screen tray may be used, but we prefer to employ a tray having handles and equipped with side walls so that the student may pack his materials into the desk and then when he leaves the desk can carry away his materials in the tray for use in other portions of the building, at home, or at other points apart from the desk. With the carry tray and the desk itself both open at the front, the student can'introduce and remove materials into the tray while he is at the desk and then can carry them away in a unitary tray structure when he leaves.

To give great rigidity and stability to the desk, we provide square tubes on each side which are received at their top within brackets providing right angle corners, and by using the clamp device provided with a vertical V-rib we find that the clamp can be fastened so as to require the rib to force the square tubes into tight engagement with the right angle corners of the bracket and thus provide extreme rigidity in the structure. Further, by extending the square tubes at the bottom in diverging directions and enclosing the runners in a scuff tube with latching end pieces, a'very effective base is provided, the end pieces being utilized not only as closures but also to support plastic glides under the runners.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the student station unit or desk is indicated by the numeral 20. It has a top 21, side panels 22, a back panel 23, leg standards 24, cross bars 25, and support runners 26.

The bottomless desk 20 has its side walls provided with inwardly-turned flanges providing the support runners 26 which slidably receive a wire tray or rack 27 or open carry tray 28.

The wire bookrack 27 is constructed of a U-shaped rod 29 adapted to rest on the desk support runners 26 and on the flange 30 of the back panel 23. A heavy gauge cross rod 31 spans the space at the front between the support runners 26, several additional lightweight cross rods being arranged in parallel with the cross rod 31. The U-rod 29 may be bent slightly at certain points so that it and the cross rods 32 and 33 will rest on all of the flanges 26 and 30 (FIG. 5). A speed clip or fastener 34 on each side of the bookrack is secured to cross rod 35 and has a projection which snaps into a hole 36 of each support runner 26 to keep the bookrack releasably in place.

The carry tray 28 fits into the student station 20 so that its bottom edges 37 rest on the support runners 26 (FIG. 6). A lipped track 38 along the sides of the recessed bottom panel 39 or 42 and the pencil holder 40 help to guide the tray when it is slid into or out of the unit. The bottom panel is strengthened by having several reinforcing ribs 41 cross it on the top side so that the bottom surface 42 will be smooth and slightly inclined for working purposes. The back panel 43 also has several reinforcing ribs 44 on the inside 'so it will have a smooth outer surface. There is a hand grip hole 45 on each side 46, with a reinforcement above it 47 and on each side of it 48, on the outer surface of the sides.

As shown best in FIG. 9, the space 49 between the outer surface of the pencil holder 40 and the raised bottom panel 42 forms a unique pencil holder when the tray is used in the inverted position. There is a reinforcing rim 50 all of the way around the upper edge on the outer surface. A textured surface may be had on the outer surface of the sides, below the rim, for ornamentation, but the bottom surface 42 is preferably smooth for working purposes.

The twin-tubed leg standards 24 have a unique foot 51 (FIG. 12). The square tubes are curved outward 53 away from each other to form a foot 52 with a spacer 54 between them at the curve. The bottom surface is perforated and bent upward 55, flange-like, a short distance from the end 56 of the tube. The scuff cover 57 slides down over the leg tubes and fits snugly over the foot 52 of the standard.

The cap and glide unit 58 is a one-piece plastic unit which has a cap portion 59 and a glide portion 60. As the prong 61 on the cap portion is slid into the end 56 of the foot tube 53, the flange 55 in the bottom of the tube slips into the recess 62 in the bottom of the prong 61 and keeps the cap and glide unit 58 from coming off. The sides 63 of the cap hold the scuff cover 57 tightly against the foot tube 53. The glide portion 60 rests on the bottom side of the tube 53 and needs no other fastening.

As shown best in FIG. 16, the leg standards 24 are attached to the unit box by being attached to a bracket 64 which is welded to the box side 22 in several places by means of welding nibs 65, and attached to the top 21 by screws through flanges 66. A carriage-type bolt 67 is inserted into a square hole 68 of the bracket 64, between the twin leg tubes 24 and through a clamp 69, and is held fast by a washer faced nut 70. The projections 71 on the clamp, above as shown in FIG. 16 or below as shown in FIG. 17 fit into perforations 72 in the leg tubes. if the projections are turned downward, then one more adjustment is possible, than is possible if the projections are turned upward.

In FIG. 18 we see that the V-clamp rib 73 in the clamp member 69 is large enough to cause a diagonal force through the leg tubes, forcing them into the outer corners 74 of the bracket, creating a much greater clamping action than can be had with merely across the tube clamping. The embosses 75 and 76 are to increase the strength of the clamp.

The desk and tray structure above described permits use of the desk by several students so that one classroom can readily accommodate several different classes during day or night sessions, while in each case the student has his own rack or carry tray, and the carry tray itself with the smooth bottom can be utilized for home study or elsewhere, the Z-structure in the front of the tray providing pencil holders on each side of the tray.

While in the foregoing specification we have set out specific structure in considerable detail for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that such details may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

1. A desk structure comprising a desk case open at one side facing an occupant and having a pair of opposing sides provided at their bottoms with inwardly turned ledges, a tray removably supported by said ledges and removable through said open side, a pair of tubes of square cross section supporting each side of said desk case, a pair of brackets, one fixed to each side of said case and providing a vertical channel with the web and sides thereof at right angles to each other, each web being located on the outboard side of said channel and attached to an associated side of said desk case, said square tubes having adjustment openings vertically spaced therein and each pair of tubes extending into the channel formed by an associated one of said brackets, a clamp member for each bracket having lugs engageable with said adjustment openings of a pair of said tubes, said clamp member located on the side of its associated pair of tubes opposite the location of said web and having a V-rib wedge extending between said associated pair of square tubes at a location opposing the web of the associated bracket whereby each pair of tubes is constrained on three sides by one of said brackets and on the fourth side by one of said clamp members, and bolt fastening means engaging each bracket web and its associated clamp member and extending between the tubes of an associated pair of tubes for pressing said wedge of said clamp member between said square tubes therebetween and toward said web and to induce a clamping force on each of said tubes forcing it diagonally from the contact area of said V-rib wedge into the corner of said bracket.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said desk case further includes a top and each of said brackets further includes a tab means adjacent its upper end for engaging the underside of said top, said structure further including fastening means for fastening said tab means to said top.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which said square tubes are turned outwardly at their bottoms to provide foot supports, and end closures for said supports are equipped with plastic guides.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said tubular foot supports have upwardly-struck lock segments near their outer ends, and said end closures have prongs extending into the tubes with openings interlocking with said segments.

5. The structure of claim 3 in which a scuff channel is apertured to receive said pair of square tubes and to enclose said foot supports, and in which said end closures have sides enclosing the ends of said channel.

6. The structure of claim 1 in which said tray member comprises a wire rack slidably carried by said side ledges, and said rack is provided with releasable latching means interlocking with said desk ledges. 

1. A desk structure comprising a desk case open at one side facing an occupant and having a pair of opposing sides provided at their bottoms with inwardly turned ledges, a tray removably supported by said ledges and removable through said open side, a pair of tubes of square cross section supporting each side of said desk case, a pair of brackets, one fixed to each side of said case and providing a vertical channel with the web and sides thereof at right angles to each other, each web being located on the outboard side of said channel and attached to an associated side of said desk case, said square tubes having adjustment openings vertically spaced therein and each pair of tubes extending Into the channel formed by an associated one of said brackets, a clamp member for each bracket having lugs engageable with said adjustment openings of a pair of said tubes, said clamp member located on the side of its associated pair of tubes opposite the location of said web and having a V-rib wedge extending between said associated pair of square tubes at a location opposing the web of the associated bracket whereby each pair of tubes is constrained on three sides by one of said brackets and on the fourth side by one of said clamp members, and bolt fastening means engaging each bracket web and its associated clamp member and extending between the tubes of an associated pair of tubes for pressing said wedge of said clamp member between said square tubes therebetween and toward said web and to induce a clamping force on each of said tubes forcing it diagonally from the contact area of said V-rib wedge into the corner of said bracket.
 2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said desk case further includes a top and each of said brackets further includes a tab means adjacent its upper end for engaging the underside of said top, said structure further including fastening means for fastening said tab means to said top.
 3. The structure of claim 1 in which said square tubes are turned outwardly at their bottoms to provide foot supports, and end closures for said supports are equipped with plastic guides.
 4. The structure of claim 3 in which said tubular foot supports have upwardly-struck lock segments near their outer ends, and said end closures have prongs extending into the tubes with openings interlocking with said segments.
 5. The structure of claim 3 in which a scuff channel is apertured to receive said pair of square tubes and to enclose said foot supports, and in which said end closures have sides enclosing the ends of said channel.
 6. The structure of claim 1 in which said tray member comprises a wire rack slidably carried by said side ledges, and said rack is provided with releasable latching means interlocking with said desk ledges. 